Ray Mathew
Raymond Frank Mathew (14 April 1929 - 27 May 2002)was an Australian poet and prose writer, who wrote poetry, drama, radio plays and filmscripts, short stories, novels, arts and literature criticism, and other non-fiction. Life Youth and education Mathew was born in Sydney. He lived in Leichardt and Bondi, Sydney, during his childhood, attending Sydney Boys High School. He attended Sydney Teachers College from 1947 to 1949. Teaching and Work in Australia Between 1949 and 1951 Mathew taught at small country schools in New South Wales where he was often the only teacher. His experience as a lone and lonely teacher is expressed in his most well-known play A Spring Song which was first performed in 1958. During the 1950s Mathew also worked in shops, moved furniture, gave school broadcasts and adult education lectures, wrote literary reviews for the Sydney Morning Herald as a freelance journalist, worked for the CSIRO as an accounts officer 1952-1954 and was a tutor and lecturer at the University of Sydney 1955-1960.AustLit Leaving Australia Mathew left Australia for Italy in 1960. After some time there he moved to London where he lived until 1968 when he went to New York and met the inventor, Paul Kollsman and his wife Eva. His British lover, Tony Hippisley, had committed suicide the year before.http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/gateways/issues/89/story10.html 'The Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust and the Papers of Ray Mathew (1929–2002)', National Library of Australia Gateways magazine. The Kollsmans, and especially Eva, assisted Mathew through their literary connections. Mathew remained in New York for the rest of his life. In 1969, he wrote in a letter to his Australian artist friend, Pixie O'Harris, "I have probably not been happier in my life. There are people here I like immensely.... I'm 40 – I feel very grown up."[http://www.nla.gov.au/pub/nlanews/2004/apr04/story-1.pdf Valerie Helson, 'Ray Mathew An Australian For Life', NLA News XIV.7 (2004): 3-6] He worked as a freelance writer and art critic while working on his novels and poetry. While he continued to write for the rest of his life publishing success evaded him. His last published book, The Joys of Possession appeared in 1967. Eva Kollsman became a lifelong patron and supporter of Mathews and theirs was an intensely intimate relationship. He moved within hers and her husband's circles in New York and Los Angeles. She donated his papers to the National Library of Australia following his death and established a trust to support research into Australian writers.Thomas Shapcott, Introduction to Tense Little Lives (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2007). Publications Poetry *''With Cypress Pine''. Sydney: Lyre-Bird Writers, 1951. *''Song and Dance''. Sydney : Printed by Edwards & Shaw for the Lyre-Bird Writers, 1956. *''South of the Equator: Poems''. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1961. *''Moonsong, and other poems'' (illustrated by Tom Cleghorn). Adelaide: Australian Letters, 1962. Published plays *''We Find the Bunyip: A comedy in three acts''. Adelaide: 1955; in Khaki, Bush and Bigotry: Three Australian Plays. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1968. *''A Spring Song: A comedy''. St. Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 1961. Novel The Joys of Possession. London: Chapman & Hall, 1967. Short fiction * A Bohemian Affair: Short stories. Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1961. * The Time of the Peacock (with Mena Abdullah). Sydney & London: Angus & Robertson, 1965. Non-fiction *''Miles Franklin''. Melbourne: Lansdowne Press, 1963. *''Charles Blackman''. Melbourne: Georgian House, 1965. *''Tense Little Lives: Uncollected prose of Ray Mathew''. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 2007. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Ray Mathew, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 21, 2015. Plays *'Church Sunday' (1950) *'Puppet Love' (1950) *'Sing for St Ned' (1951) *'The Love of Gautama' Radio Play (1952) *'The Boomerang and the Bantam' (1953) *'The Medea of Euripides' Radio play (1954) **''We Find the Bunyip: A comedy in three acts''. (first produced 1955) *'The Bones of my Toe' First produced 1957; unpublished. *'Lonely without You' (1957) *'The Life of the Party' First produced 1958; finalist in the 1957 London Observer International Play Competition, published in Plays of the '50s (2004). *'A Spring Song' First produced 1958; published (1961 & 1985). See also *List of Australian poets References Papers The National Library of Australia holds Ray Mathews papers. They were donated by Eve Kollsman.The Ray Mathew and Eva Kollsman Trust and the Papers of Ray Mathew (1929–2002) A discription of the collection is available here: http://nla.gov.au/nla.ms-ms8264 Notes External links ;About *Ray Mathew at AustLit ;Etc. *Finding aid to the papers of Ray Mathew. Category:Australian dramatists and playwrights Category:Writers from New South Wales Category:1929 births Category:2002 deaths Category:20th-century poets Category:Australian poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets